Faculty News

for May, 2011

Professor Richard Painter wrote an op-ed entitled "Give All Judicial Nominees a Vote" for the Dallas-Fort Worth Star Telegram. Painter spoke approvingly of arguments by Republican Senators, particularly Senator John Cornyn of Texas, against filibusters during the Bush years, and said that Republican senators should have practiced what they preached instead of filibustering President Obama's nomination of Goodwin Liu. Painter then suggested that Liu's renomination by a Republican president might have to be part of any future deal to end senate filibusters.

Professor Richard Painter was quoted by Sen. Daniel K. Inouye and Sen. Barbara Boxer's op-ed entitled "Goodwin Liu's Nomination should have been OK'd" in the Honolulu Star Advertiser. The article said, "...Richard Painter, the chief ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush, called Liu an 'excellent choice' for the bench."

Professor Michele Goodwin is the newest member of the Chronicle of Higher Education Brainstorm group. Brainstorm is the Chronicle Review's blog on ideas, culture, and the arts. It features some of the best minds in academic and policy circles. Goodwin's "The New Reproductive Frontier" is her first feature on Brainstorm.

Professor Susan Wolf chaired a standing-room-only conference in Washington, D.C., funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). "Should We Return Individual Research Results and Incidental Findings from Genomic Biobanks and Archives?" tackled what is widely regarded as one of the most pressing issues in genetics today. The conference, which grew out of a two-year project funded by NIH and led by Wolf (PI) with three UMN Co-Investigators (Profs. Brian Van Ness, Frances Lawrenz, and Jeff Kahn), featured top officials from NIH, the Office for Human Research Protections at DHHS, and the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services, leading academics, and a wide range of stakeholders. The day before the conference, Wolf delivered a plenary address on this problem at the annual meeting of the International Society of Biological and Environmental Repositories (ISBER). The day after the conference, Wolf led a meeting of the NIH-funded project’s national Working Group to revise their consensus statement in progress on these issues. The conference will result in a Special Issue of Genetics in Medicine, the official journal of the American College of Human Genetics.

Professor Richard Painter wrote an editorial for Politico entitled "The Case for Goodwin Liu." In speeches on the Senate floor, Senators Feinstein (D CA) and Coons (D DE) both quoted from this and other editorials Painter has written on Goodwin Liu. Painter also spoke on a Southern California Public Radio episode entitled "The Filibuster is Back: Goodwin Liu, Nominee to the 9th Circuit, Sunk by Senate Politics." Painter's support for Ninth Circuit nominee Goodwin Liu was also cited in an editorial appearing in the San Francisco Chronicle condemning the Senate filibuster of Liu's nomination.

Professor Brian Bix gave a Slate reporter background information about the legal treatment of prenuptial agreements for an article that responded to a comment stating that the prenuptial agreement between Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver may not be enforceable as it was 25 years old.

Professor Dale Carpenter wrote an op-ed in the Pioneer Press opposing the proposed state marriage amendment, which would exclude same-sex couples from marriage under the state constitution. Carpenter argued that the amendment is bad policy and bad politics for Republicans. A final vote on passage will likely occur in the state House this week. If passed by the House, it will be submitted to voters in the November 2012 election.

Professor Jane Kirtley was a guest on Voice of Russia radio, discussing President Obama's decision not to release photographs of Osama bin Laden. She described legal justifications for withholding the photographs, including Supreme Court decisions expansively interpreting privacy exemptions to the federal Freedom of Information Act, as well as media ethics considerations regarding requests for the photographs.

Professor Steve Meili chaired a roundtable discussion on immigration and human rights at a conference in London sponsored by King's College, the New University of Lisbon, and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. The conference brought together scholars and government officials from various countries to assess strategies for addressing various immigration and human rights issues confronting the European Union. Meili was invited to provide his perspective, given his current research on the integration of international human rights agreements into domestic law affecting non-citizens.

Professor Richard Painter was quoted in a New York Times article on the Senate Ethics Committee's referral to the Justice Department of its conclusion that Senator John Ensign (R NV) had broken the law in covering up an alleged affair. Painter, a former ethics adviser to President Bush, observed that the Justice Department was more careful in deciding whether to prosecute such cases than it had been in the past. The Justice Department, he observed, had been careless in its handling of a corruption case against former Senator Ted Stevens (R AK) a few years ago, amid allegations of prosecutorial misconduct.

Professor Dale Carpenter was featured in the lead story on WCCO, the local CBS affiliate last night after the Minnesota senate approved a marriage amendment. "For better or worse, we will now be known as the state in November 2012, that is going to be voting on this issue," said Carpenter. Minnesota is one of the last states to address gay marriage by constitutional amendment, and Carpenter believes private funds from Minnesota and outside the state will be funneled into a massive media campaign. "The media will be making a lot of money in the next 18 months from ads on both sides," said Carpenter. "A rough estimate on what might be spent on either side is 8 million dollars, maybe more," he added.

Professor Richard Painter published an op-ed in the Star Tribune urging state legislators to reject a potentially divisive constitutional amendment on same sex marriage. Painter pointed out that the proposed amendment would cause needless controversy because it merely restates existing state law on marriage.

Sixty-three Law School professors sent an open letter to members of the Minnesota House of Representatives and Senate opposing a proposed amendment limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples. "The proposed amendment," according to the letter, "would set in constitutional cement the existing hardships on thousands of families, including children, that many in the legal profession serve."

Professor Dale Carpenter and David Patton, a 1L at the Law School, testified before the Minnesota House Civil Law committee against a proposed state constitutional amendment limiting marriage to the "union of one man and one woman." Carpenter argued that the amendment would not help any families in Minnesota but would potentially harm thousands. Patton, raised by a same-sex couple, noted that his own family, including his unborn child, would be hurt by the amendment.

Counsel in Residence Howard Bergman will be a panelist in a teleconference presented by the ABA's Young Lawyers Division Antitrust Law Committee and the Antitrust Law Section's Distribution and Franchising, Corporate Counseling, and Pricing Conduct Committees on May 23. The webinar will explore how companies can best manage their distribution channel in light of the antitrust risks inherent in such relationships. Svetlana Gans of the Federal Trade Commission will moderate, and the other panel members will be Ted Banks, former in-house attorney at Kraft, and Gary Kubek of Debevoise and Plimpton.

Professor Richard Painter was quoted in a USA Today article on the motion to recuse U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker in the California Proposition 8 case. Painter pointed out that the mere fact that Judge Walker is in a long-term relationship with another man is not grounds for recusal.